Mixed up weather

My right foot was giving me a bit of trouble throughout most of last week. I think it came from old shoes and a lot of time on microspikes. I’ve been on the roads for the last week and a half and bought some new shoes and it’s definitely feeling a lot better.

Last Friday, I had the opportunity to travel down to Melbourne Beach, FL to visit my father and run the Publix Florida Half Marathon. It was a great time to get a break from cold New England weather. I haven’t been training for fast road racing, so I planned to run the race as a workout/tempo run. My friend Chris from SIX03 came down with me as a thank you present because he helped me remodel my kitchen this past fall/winter. He has been running really well lately and had a big goal of running under 3:11 in the marathon.

We did a nice four mile shakeout run the day before the race in 77 degree weather. It was amazing to run in a singlet and shorts! It had been months since that was possible up here in New Hampshire. We stopped and joked around for most of the run. The rest of the day we spent eating, resting, and getting ready for the next day’s race.

Race day was an early one! Chris had to be at the start line at 5:45am for this 6am start. It was dark and 50 degrees with no wind. It was a perfect day for fast times. Chris got going and I got ready for the half marathon start at 6:45am. The sun was just about to rise and the temps had only risen to about 52 degrees. I lined up with the 1:45 pacer because I was planning on using the first half as a warmup and then dropping into my half marathon pace for the last 6.5 miles. At the start I met a guy who saw my SIX03 singlet and knew I was from the Portsmouth area. He apparently works at a company that has offices in Portsmouth and near Melbourne, FL, so he comes up to visit NH all the time. I let him know about the pub runs and he said he’d join us next time he was up in the area! Running is a small world.

I stuck to the plan and ran with the 1:45 pace group for half the race. The pacer was amazing and clicked in on 8 minute miles like clockwork. It was fun learning about the running groups in the area and chatting along with other competitors in the pace group.At the halfway point – the first of the two causeway bridges in the race – I said goodbye to the group and dropped into 7:05-7:10min/mile pace for the rest of the way. To run the last half almost a minute per mile faster than the first half means you pass a LOT of people. It was really fun to run fast and feel fresh later on the race. I ended up passing the 1:40 pace group and my new friend from the start line.

I ended up finishing in 1:38:36 and 11th overall female with 3rd in my AG. Not bad for a workout! It makes me feel pretty confident in my fitness right now. I have been running, but not as fast or as much as usual since I’ve been coming back from an injury and switching almost entirely to trail running. Maybe someday I’ll go back to the roads and try to break 1:30 in the half. Chris ended up PRing at the marathon with a 3:05:18! It was amazing to see him come in so strong and happy! I have a feeling he’ll be back down that way to train and visit – he fell in love with Florida. Really, though, who could blame him?

We flew back just a couple hours after the race ended. Sitting still all cramped up in a plane after a half or full marathon isn’t something I plan on doing again.

The start of this week has been a mixed bag. We came back to real winter here in New England. We’ve had two snowstorms – one that is raging outside right now – with a day that hit 50 degrees between them! I’ve had a chance to run or hike outside each day since I’ve been back. Looking forward to the rest of this 2nd official week of 100 miler training!